The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to require health care providers to include social and behavioral data in Electronic Health Records (EHR) and to link patients records to public health departments, it was announced last week.

Health care experts say the proposal raises additional privacy concerns over Americans personal health information, on top of worries that the Obamacare data hub could lead to abuse by bureaucrats and identify theft.

The CMS currently covers 100 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Hospital Insurance Program and is tasked with running Obamacare.

According to a solicitation posted by the Department of Health and Human Services on Sept. 4, the CMS is commissioning the National Academy of Sciences to study how best to add social and behavioral factors to electronic health record reporting.

The agency said adding social and behavioral data to patients online records will improve health care.

Increasing EHR adoption has the potential to improve health and health care quality, the contracts statement of work (SOW) reads. Parallel advances in analytic tools applied to such records are fueling new approaches to discovering determinants of population health.

The project sets out to identify core data standards for behavioral and social determinants of health to be included in EHRs.

Critics suggested this would create new bureaucracies and negatively impact health care.

This sounds like an example of the federal government further intruding on the practice of medicine, said Chris Jacobs, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

Its including more pay for performance requirements on physicians to collect all sorts of data in order to get government reimbursements, he said.

The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act gave authority to the CMS to pay hospitals and doctors that make the switch to electronic health records, to encourage widespread EHR adoption.

Health care professionals who began participating in the program in 2011 or 2012 can receive up to $44,000 for using EHRs for Medicare and $63,750 for Medicaid over 5 and 6 years, respectively.

Though the program is totally voluntary, eligible professionals who are not using EHRs by 2015 will see a 1 percent reduction in their Medicare and Medicaid fees each year.

Jacobs says the governments pay for conformance culture in health care is telling doctors what they have to do and how they have to do it in order to receive government reimbursement.

The meaningful use program already requires doctors and hospitals to report the demographics of a patient and if he smokes to qualify for its first step. The second stage, planned for 2014, will require recording a patients family health history.

The National Academy of Sciences will make recommendations for adding social and behavioral data for stage three, which will be unveiled in 2016.

A spokesman for the CMS told the Washington Free Beacon that the agency is in the early stages of crafting the requirements for this stage.

While we know that they are considering [clinical quality measures], it would allow a greater variety of specialties and procedures to be included, said Tony Salters, a spokesman for CMS. This includes items like behavioral health, dental care, drug, and alcohol use, etc.

The CMS issued a sole source contract to the National Academy of Sciences because of its caliber and expertise in the medical profession, they said.

A spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences told the Free Beacon that the study began on July 15.

Working with the Institute of Medicine, a committee is currently drafting suggestions for collecting social and behavioral data.

The committee will identify core social and behavioral domains to be included in all EHRs, the organization said.

Not only will the committee come up with what behavioral data will be collected, they will also suggest how that data can be shared with public health departments.

The contract orders the committee to identify, Possibilities for linking EHRs to public health departments, social service agencies, or other relevant non-health care organizations and case studies, if possible, of where this has been done and how issues of privacy have been addressed.

The committee will also look at the obstacles to collecting social data for EHRs, and how these obstacles can be overcome.

Jacobs said the study is troubling in light of security issues with the Obamacare data hub, which will collect Social Security numbers and personal information to verify participation in the health insurance marketplace, beginning on Oct. 1.

Weve already seen with the Obamacare data hub and the significant delays that have been associated with it, he said. Government auditors have raised concerns about maintaining timelines and implementation and whether the data hub can be implemented in a secure manner that ensures Americans medical and financial records arent at risk.

Others have warned that the database is vulnerable to abuse by the numerous government agencies involved, including the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, state Medicaid databases, and the Social Security Administration.

The potential for social and behavioral data to be shared with government agencies is only more worrisome, Jacobs said.

This study raises additional questions about the privacy and security implications of the federal government sharing personal health data with other organizations and entities, he said.

I received a ‘survey questionnaire’ from CMS about 3 weeks ago. Much of the survey was personal questions such as ‘do you ever feel depressed?’. I fed the survey to the shredder. Last week I received a follow up postcard from CMS asking why I had not returned the survey. Seems like CMS is rather determined to get personal information. As I understand it CMS is just the agent for Medicare.

After an overnight hospital stay for lightheadedness and gerd, I had to throw out a doctor who came in and pulled up a chair and then proceeded to ask me questions like how was my home life, my relationship with my husband, do I feel depressed or overwhelmed, etc. The questions were then aaked again in a slightly different manner. I told her it was basically none of her business and that I was aware what the questions were in response to. I laugh every time Giant Eagle asks if I was a copy of the HIPPA policy.

9
posted on 09/14/2013 6:21:37 AM PDT
by nurees
(Oh...there is a NEW Mexico (Homer Simpson))

STOP OBAMACARE ALERT Contact your state AG---ask him/her to issue a letter of inquiry to groups receiving federal "Navigator" grants. The inquiry should center on questions WRT how the group intends to protect consumer data.

In particular, the questionnaire should ask if the tax-funded "Navigator" program intends to transfer personal/ financial/medical data of the insured to the local/county/national Democrat Party, relevant Unions, banks, investment companies, drug companies, insurance companies. Trial Lawyers' associations and whether "Navigators" have sub rosa contracts with these, and other groups, to provide significant info to enrich databases for pecuniary purposes.

REFERENCE A West Virginia nonprofit has turned down a federal grant it received to help residents navigate new health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act after it received an inquiry from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey about how it would protect consumer information. Clarksburg-based West Virginia Parent Training Inc. did not respond to a letter it received from Morrisey directing it to answer 26 questions about the group's personnel and hiring practices, including employee background checks and employee monitoring programs, the Sunday Gazette-Mail (http://bit.ly/17M1QVe) reported. (Excerpt) Read more at sanluisobispo.com ...

EXCERPT Planned Parenthood is about to obtain access to your Social Security number, tax form, bank account, and medical records.

With the advent of ObamaCare, consumers buying health insurance through health care exchanges will be required to speak to navigators. Navigators are supposed to help consumers find the best coverage and ascertain whether they are eligible for a federal subsidy.

Any navigator will have access to the federal data hub, which holds information from the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Defense Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Veterans Health Administration, and the Peace Corps.

Planned Parenthood received $655,000 from the Obama administration to hire navigators. In Iowa, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland received $214,427; in Montana, Intermountain Planned Parenthood, Inc. got $295,604; and in New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England raked in $145,161.

And there is not much scrutiny over who these navigators will be; HHS will not require background checks or fingerprinting, and a previous criminal conviction, even if it was for identity theft , will not trigger a rejection. To make matters worse, the administration has cut the new employees training from 30 hours to 20 and reduced screening.

OKLAHOMA WINS FIRST OCARE BATTLE: Quoting AG Pruitt--- "Obamacare was meant to be so open-ended that it could mean anything. We are seeing thousands of pages of new rules being written, both by HHS and the IRS. The open-ended interpretation of Obamacare enables this.....if the law doesn't contain a particular provision, no problem. They just make it up as they go along."

"Such is the case that involves the OK lawsuit."

The court rejected the federal governments argument that Oklahoma lacked standing to challenge the law, allowing us to proceed with this pivotal case, Were optimistic the court will recognize what states have known for months that the IRS disregarded the law by making the large employer mandate effective in Oklahoma or in any of the 33 other states without a state health care exchange.

REFERENCE Oklahoma challenged implementation of the Affordable Care Act after the IRS finalized a rule that would allow the federal government to punish large employers, including local government, with millions of dollars in tax penalties in states without state health care exchanges, which is not allowed under the health care law.

Congress provided a choice for Oklahoma and other states in implementation of the health care law, and the IRS is attempting to take that away by rule, General Pruitt said. The administration miscalculated how many states would support this law, so now theyre using the IRS to push through provisions that Congress did not pass.

CMS is the name of the actual governemnt agency that administers CMS. they do that thru a small number of “contractors” who are private companies that actually pay and administer all the Medicare claims and regs. the US is divided up into regions, i think there are less than 10, and each private company has an exclusive area to administer. her is the website of one such private Medicare administrator, there are others.

Go to a private doctor, who does not use electronic records, and of course, don’t use credit cards, debit cards or checks etc.
In order to legally practice, a doctor does have to keep a medical record, and the state medical board can access your records w/o your consent if there is a complaint or investigation. Otherwise, the only way for near secrecy is to go abroad.
Don’t think you have anything to hide? Well, just about any medical condition could be used by the Feds or some states as a pretext to take away your firearms and break into your home. This is the way they do it in all communist countries.

14
posted on 09/14/2013 6:52:33 AM PDT
by grumpygresh
(Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)

Once the government -or anyone else- is paying for your healthcare, they have the right to gather information and demand any changes they want in you lifestyle as a condition of ongoing payment.

Spread to society as a whole, they have the right to demand any societal changes that they say will improve the general health - foods, environment, obesity, guns, recreational choices, etc etc etc

etc

The seduction our society fell for was allowing our federal government to ever pay for anyone’s healthcare. It started with Medicare, and when that was proposed the doctors were clear that it would eventually lead to the loss of our great healthcare system. They were less vocal about the loss of freedoms and privacy, and I think that was because they never believed it could happen here. It has. For the children, for our own sakes, to keep expenses down for the taxpayer - people fell for it all. It was done by design, and now we are living in a totalitarian state until such time as we rediscover the gumption and courage to put an end to it.

17
posted on 09/14/2013 8:49:59 AM PDT
by dagogo redux
(A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)

“social and behavioral data “ — such as visiting and posting FR will be declared a “disease” to be “cured”.

Where else do you think this is going...

On you next doctor’s visit, they may ask you what website you are visiting and whether you are member of such organizations like the Tea Party...

And this is not a question of “if” or even “when”, it’s more like they are already doing it ASAP.

“According to a solicitation posted by the Department of Health and Human Services on Sept. 4, the CMS is commissioning the National Academy of Sciences to study how best to add social and behavioral factors to electronic health record reporting.

The agency said adding social and behavioral data to patients online records will improve health care.

....

A spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences told the Free Beacon that the study began on July 15.

Working with the Institute of Medicine, a committee is currently drafting suggestions for collecting social and behavioral data.

The committee will identify core social and behavioral domains to be included in all EHRs, the organization said.”

Or have had bad dreams, especially if a veteran. Soon, they will make “-isms” mental illnesses - any and all political, religious or social beliefs that do not conform to what leftists consider normal will be considered mentally ill. We are teetering on a cliff. I shudder to think what it will be like in a generation or two.

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